


light of reason

by tangledlovelife (BladedDarkness)



Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, side pairing: Eugene Fitzherbert/Rapunzel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:00:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23323582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BladedDarkness/pseuds/tangledlovelife
Summary: Cassandra grabs the Moonstone. Rapunzel and the Sundrop are thrilled.
Relationships: Cassandra/Rapunzel (Disney: Tangled)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 119
Collections: raps





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Confession time: I started watching the show only at the first of the month. I haven't seen Season 3 yet, so be kind with spoilers, please?
> 
> I also haven't written anything but outlines in a while, but I'm trying to get back into it.

_"You have to be careful who you trust." ___

____

____

There's a heady thrum at the nape of Rapunzel's neck and her scalp is prickling, but she hardly notices either, too transfixed on the sight before her.

Cassandra is **_magnificent._**

"It's so much stronger now," she breathes, staring at her friend's glowing curls, slowly aware of her own long locks pulsing the same beat. "The pull…"

The startled look on Cassandra's face at her words both tells her everything she already knew and tugs at something deep in Rapunzel's instincts, and she steps around Eugene without a thought. 

"You've always felt it too, haven't you Cass?" Rapunzel knows Eugene is looking at them both quizzically, but the rush of energy in her veins has her barely registering his presence. 

"Don't give me that, you would've mentioned it before," spits Cassandra, looking only more alarmed when Rapunzel actually smirks at her.

"You weren't the only one spending your whole life waiting, Cassandra," Rapunzel says, voice surprisingly low. She chuckles when Cassandra scrambles back a step as she takes one forward, utterly amused when the movements happen a second time as she adds, "We're just both finally as we were always supposed to be."

Cassandra wriggles her way back from Rapunzel as far as possible, until only open space is behind her. "And what's that?" Cassandra asks cautiously.

"Free and ready, **_moonlight,_** " Rapunzel purrs, the strange unknown language and word slipping off her tongue yet immediately understood by all three of them in the room.

Cassandra sucks in a shuddering breath, Moonstone pulsing in her chest as she goes entirely still.

Rapunzel makes it to within arms' reach when Eugene interferes, wrapping his arms around her waist and tugging her back as he mutters, "Careful, Blondie."

The growl Rapunzel emits distracts him only for a second as Cassandra literally hisses at him, baring her teeth. Eugene tilts his head, wincing as Rapunzel's nails dig into his clothing when he backs up further. "Were your teeth always that sharp?"

Cassandra settles into a low crouch, stalking behind his withdrawing form, and Eugene almost loses his grip on Rapunzel as she squirms against him. 

"Now would be a really good time to cut me a path, Adira!" He yells, picking up speed in his retreat as Cassandra starts to gain on him. 

He's not entirely sure what's happening, but every instinct is screaming at him that Rapunzel needs to stay away from Cassandra if they want to have any hope of recovering the Moonstone or returning things back to normal.

There's a welcome crack of rock as Adira's blade carves easily through the statue, even as Rapunzel turns herself into deadweight and nearly slips from his grasp again in her latest effort to reach Cassandra.

"C'mon, Princess, work with me here!" He begs, sliding through the opening and booking it for outside. He hauls her slipping and twisting form under his arm. "Move it or lose it people!"

Lance stares after him bemusedly for a moment before turning and yelping as Cassandra nearly barrels down on him. Almost as one, they take off after Eugene, scarcely maintaining their lead.

\-----

"I think we've finally lost her," Eugene pants, more reassured by Rapunzel's weakening protests than any actual surety. "Guess merging with a magical rock takes a lot out of ya."

They're in a small clearing, the waning sun at their back. Adira disappears as soon as they pause, but he’s too winded to care very much.

Lance takes several deep breaths before speaking. "What exactly is going on? Did Cassandra have blue hair? And what's wrong with Rapunzel?"

Max neighs softly beside him, stamping a hoof for emphasis.

"I don't…" Eugene sighs, setting Rapunzel upright on a log, only to grab her again as she stands and takes a few resolute steps back the way they came, her hair now at a dim glow. "Cassandra grabbed the Moonstone and they both just… changed."

“And we were running from Cassandra because…?” Lance cocks an eyebrow at him.

Eugene rubs at his eyes with one hand, the other still holding Rapunzel’s hand. “Because Cassandra _grabbed_ the Moonstone.”

“And?” Lance shrugs and fishes a couple apples out of Max’s pack and hands them off to the two horses.

“You’re not being fair, Eugene,” Rapunzel says suddenly, and Pascal chirrups, nodding. Her hair has finally lost the unnatural gleam, but her eyes are bright and burning into his, even in the dimming light. “Cassandra did as she was meant to do.”

“What does that even mean?!”

Rapunzel smiles sweetly at him. “It’s alright. Everything is going to be okay.”

“No,” Edmund blurts, finally overcome. “This is not what we agreed on, Eugene.” He slumps heavily against his log. “You asked me to trust the princess, not her - ” he cuts off as Rapunzel leans forward.

“I trust Cassandra. You trust me, you trust her.” She stares at him coolly. “I hope I’ve made myself clear.” Without another word, she stands, tugging Fidella to the other side of the clearing and curling up next to the horse, who settles down without protest.

He can feel the frown growing on his face. Rapunzel’s faith in Cassandra is not so strange, but something itches at the back of Eugene’s skull, that instinct that has kept him out of prison and saved him from starvation more times than he cares to admit. “We need to get some rest and move quickly in the morning. I want to put some distance between us and… the Dark Kingdom.”

Adira reappears at that moment, arms full. Like before, she has no indication that the day has worn on her. "We can't outrun her. She'll never truly stop following us and the princess will fight against every step of the way, even back to Corona."

"But why?!"

"Because the Moonstone and the Sundrop long to be reunited."

Eugene pauses for a moment. "I'm not sure I like what you're implying, Adira."

"I never implied anything, Fish Skin." Adira sets the logs she is carrying down. "They did."


	2. Chapter 2

She's exhausted but she can't sleep. High above her head, the moon glows bright and Cassandra feels her pulse racing through her veins. The pull towards Rapunzel has lessened for now but she can still feel it itching under her skin, like it has since they met. Her hair isn't glowing anymore, though.

She's still keenly aware of what direction her princess is in, but Cassandra only has enough energy to stare at the sky above her and  _ think. _

**_Moonlight._ ** The language wasn't familiar to her, yet she knows instantly what Rapunzel had said. What she had called Cassandra. The word had been almost reverent, yet laced with that familiar warmth that Rapunzel resonates so easily.

Yet there had been such a reaction, not only within Cassandra herself, but the Moonstone itself. Even now, the stone was singing with energy at Rapunzel’s word. It shouldn’t surprise her that the Moonstone reacts to the Sundrop’s presence, since she’d seen plenty of evidence of the Sundrop doing the same, but she hadn’t been prepared for the intensity.

Hell, if she’s being honest, Rapunzel’s reaction to her grabbing the Moonstone out from under her surprised her most. She’d seemed almost excited that Cassandra had played her intentions so close to the vest and basically stolen her destiny.

Something pulses deep in her chest in response to the thought and Cassandra shifts on the ground, ignoring Owl’s everlasting stare. No, Rapunzel had been more than excited. Rapunzel had been  _ thrilled. _ Thrilled and impressed and a whole other slew of emotions that she’d always picked up on from the princess but never quite this clearly.

And like usual, Cassandra felt her own emotions react to Rapunzel’s freely expressed ones. Except this time, it felt so much more, just like the blonde had suggested.

_ Free and ready. _

But for what?

\-----

He feels different come morning. Or, at least, that his concern the previous night was not entirely directed in the right area. 

“You’re saying you have no idea why Cassandra took the Moonstone.”

“No.”

“And that doesn’t concern you?”

“What happened was meant to be.”

“You keep saying that, but not explaining, Blondie,” he finally points out, not frustrated but still confused.

Rapunzel doesn’t look up from her journal. “I can’t explain it. It’s just a feeling, Eugene.” She flicks the page over so quickly he simply catches a swath of blue before she’s sketching on a blank space. “I know it looked bad, but it wasn’t.”

Eugene rubs his face. “She literally reminded you to be careful who you trust, and she did it  _ menacingly. _ ” Max shoots him a look as Fidella huffs besides him.

Rapunzel finally looks up at him, eyes dancing with mirth. “It was a pretty dramatic line, huh?”

“Why are you defending her?” Eugene asks. “It’s not that I don’t trust Cassandra, just… walk me through this so I can wrap my head around why the plan changed.”

Rapunzel smiles at him. “It’s Cassandra, how could I not trust her?” She kisses his cheek. "Besides, you heard Adira, we don't know what would have happened to me if I tried to combine the Sundrop and the Moonstone. I was the added element here."

"Well it can't be a more stable reaction with Lady Venom involved, now can it?"

"Eugene," she stares at him, and he hates that it almost feels like she's finally seeing him for the first time since this entire conversation started. "If we learned anything from dealing with Varian's alchemy, it's that sometimes we have to even the scales before these kinds of things work."

He stands up quickly. "I need a moment," he manages through the lump in his throat. 

"Eugene," Rapunzel starts. 

"No," he says firmly. "I'm going to go over there," he points to a cliff a good distance away from their clearing. "And in five or so minutes, you and the frog can come talk to me."

Eugene strides away before she can say anything further.

\-----

He hears Pascal chirp at him before he senses Rapunzel, and a small part of him wonders when she got so good sneaking around him.

Still, Eugene takes her hand when she settles next to him. 

"I don't like the thought of losing you. I mean, clearly," he says, "I love you after all, and I don't know what my life would be like if you weren't in it anymore. I don't  _ want _ to know." Eugene pauses, squeezes Rapunzel's hand when she starts to reply. "Losing you terrifies me. You and the little guy here are the most important person in my life," he continues, scratching under Pascal's chin, as ever, accepting the fact that they are a package deal. "But Cassandra is… almost as important to me, and the thought of losing both of you, that terrifies me the most."

Eugene leans back on his free hand. "Lance is like my brother, and I'd do almost anything for him. But, somehow, Cass is the same for me as Lance is, except we're closer, because we have the same goals."

"Huh?" blurts Rapunzel. 

"Oh, not on the surface, no, not at all. But deep down, where it counts, beneath my gorgeous face and her serpentine scales, both of us are allied with the goal to protect what's precious to us and that's you. We both would do anything for you and that's what bonds us."

"But that's not what I want! I want," Rapunzel fumbles, "friends, partners. You and Cass always use this protection thing to single me out, when you both know I'd give anything for either of you."

"Of course we do. That's not the issue. Well, I mean, it definitely stresses us out, because you're much more important than either of us, don’t give me that look, it's not the point right now. What I'm saying is, Cass and I have the same goal, but we have different ideas about how to do it. And I think that's actually something you need."

"I still don't understand," Rapunzel says, and Pascal nuzzles her chin.

"You need both of us, just like we need you. We both know you can handle yourself, and you trust us to do the same. I like to think that I encourage you to find new things that make you happy, but I'm always ready to step in if something happens. Cassandra prefers to be already in place if something goes wrong." He makes a face. "Must be that guard upbringing."

"Yeah, must be," she says, in thought. 

"This is just my opinion, of course. I don't know how Cassandra's mind works and I don't exactly want to know sometimes," Eugene points out. "But for now, this is how I understand it. And maybe that makes it a little more understandable to me how I could stand aside and let you take the Moonstone, while Cass couldn't."

"Hey," Rapunzel cuts in sternly. "What you did-"

"Was exactly what you needed from me," Eugene finishes. "And what Cassandra did, I bet, is exactly what you needed from her."

"Then why are you so upset?"

"Because you both didn't seem like yourselves last night," he replies, "and the thought of losing both of you, I know we're wrapping back around to this, but it scares me more than anything else. Neither of you  _ felt _ right to me last night and my gut said to get you out of there away from each other until we figure this thing out. And neither of you were in a position to agree or argue. I don't think the Sundrop and the Moonstone have the same goals as us and I don't trust that."

“Maybe you should trust that Cass and I can handle it.” Rapunzel shrugs. “We got this,” she calls over her shoulder as she steps forward to help Lance and Max pack up what little supplies they have left.

“That’s exactly what worries me,” mutters Eugene.


	3. Chapter 3

When he wakes up on the third morning of their journey back from the Dark Kingdom, it's still night enough that the idea of daylight is more suggestion than reality. Still, he lays there, not sure why he woke up. Rapunzel is beside him, sleeping soundly and using her dimly glowing hair as a pillow. 

Eugene forces himself not to move. Casting his eyes around, however, reveals Cassandra's blue hair casting a soft hue across the leaves, her body nestled in a tree above them. 

Close enough to still trigger a reaction, but not enough to wake Rapunzel. Not yet anyways.

Her unpredictability keeps him motionless. What would Cassandra do if she knew he was awake? The last thing he wants at this point is to feel guilty by somehow scaring her off. The second to last thing is a fight.

Rapunzel sighs and shifts next to him, her lips curling up into a smile in her sleep. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Cassandra lean forward, her eyes suddenly sparking so blue they glimmer in the night. Rapunzel bolts upright and it takes every inch of his willpower not to startle.

There’s no hesitation, no search. Instead, her eyes instantly lock on to Cassandra above them. Eugene blinks and she’s up in the tree, nestled beside Cassandra’s crouched form, so close their hair is mingling where they touch, the rest wrapped around them both as if a blanket.

Only soft, unintelligible murmurs float down to Eugene where he lays.

\-----

She takes a moment to soak in Cassandra, just like in the Dark Kingdom. The thrumming in the back of her mind has returned, just as strong, but more importantly, Cassandra has never felt clearer to her. She can feel all the frayed edges of Cassandra’s emotions pressing up against her own, like a cat, purring and rubbing upon their human for attention. There's a sense of elated peace as those edges weave into her own, as if they were never apart in the first place.

She reaches up to cup Cassandra’s cheek. “I’m so glad you’re back. I could feel you, you know. Always keeping a certain distance away, just enough,” she says, flicking her free hand through her hair as she slides the other into Cassandra’s blue locks.

“I could feel you too,” breathes Cassandra, smiling brightly as she adds, “ **_sunbeam_** .”

Rapunzel springs into action, pulling Cassandra even closer as bright golden light spills from her eyes.

Cassandra sighs in relief. Why was she ever keeping her distance? Some tendril of Rapunzel's essence wraps itself around her own, a distant and forgotten memory that Rapunzel has no part in, and yet the moment they fuse, there's no question the two snippets were meant to be interwoven. She can feel the tiny stitches if she searches for them, but there's little point. 

Rapunzel pulls her into her lap and Cassandra melts, her mind peacefully quiet for a long moment as she rests her head on Rapunzel’s shoulder.

“You said we’re finally free,” Cassandra finally whispers, feeling almost intoxicated. This close to Rapunzel, this close to the Sundrop, this close to everything she holds dear. Stars, how she wants to just bask in Rapunzel’s warm presence. “So let’s just… do that. Let’s just be free.” A giddy laugh bubbles up and Rapunzel smiles adoringly.

“I know what that means to me,” Rapunzel says, smile turning impish, “but what does it mean for you, Cass?”

\-----

When he wakes up for the second time, it’s daylight and this time, Rapunzel and Cassandra are nowhere in sight. Eugene shoves down the brief panic and shoves his boots on. Walking around the campsite doesn’t reveal the two either.

Where  _ are _ they?

Eventually, he heads to the stream, not quite sure why but it has to be better than heading in any random direction. Eugene doesn’t want to wake the others quite yet, not when he isn’t even sure the girls are actually missing.

Thankfully, he hears soft laughter as he approaches and the relief makes him pause.

There, bare feet dipped beneath the placid surface of the stream, sit Cassandra and Rapunzel, just as close as they had been up in the tree.

“What about Eugene?” For the first time that morning, Rapunzel appears uncertain.

“Bring him along,” Cassandra urges, shrugging and nuzzling further into her shoulder. It hardly matters. “Anywhere we want to go, he’s probably got some tips. And a wanted poster, but we can handle that.”

“And the others?” Rapunzel frowns and mouths ‘others’ to herself a few times, unsatisfied.

Cassandra shrugs again. “Send them back to Corona. I mean, Lance is okay. But someone moderately competent needs to guide them back. Hookfoot and Shorty would never make it on their own, and King Edmund isn’t going to know Corona from Vardaros.”

“You, me, and Eugene,” muses Rapunzel. She chuckles. “Guess I’ll be switching rides between Fidella and Max, huh?” she adds, and Cassandra kicks some water up at her.

“That’s a good way to put it,” Cassandra purrs.

“That’s a good way to get those ridiculous noses tacked on my face again, actually,” Eugene says finally, stepping forward.

As one, they turn to him. Cassandra gives him an easy if coy smile, while Rapunzel practically beams.

“You’ll come with us, right?” she asks, hands clasped in front of her.

“Blondie, we shouldn’t. Cass, you  _ know _ this,” he directs at her, looking for a glimpse of the focused if uptight woman he knows. She knows exactly what would happen if they returned without Rapunzel, especially with Cassandra herself gone as well.

He’s never been much for kingdom gossip, but even he has heard the rumors in the capital about Cassandra. And he knows exactly what kind of scandal it would bring to Corona if the princess ran off alone with her lady-in-waiting, innocent or no. It would be exactly like if he and Rapunzel ran off alone together.

Maybe, if it was the three of them, it would be okay. Surely. But that doesn’t make it any better if the rest of their group, including his newfound father, show up in Corona without any of them.

“I…” Cassandra starts, looking unnerved for the first time. She shakes her head, rubbing at her forehead. She drops Rapunzel’s hand and is suddenly furious. “He’s right.”

“Cass.”

“No, Raps,” she shoots back, standing up. “This isn’t us,  **_sunbeam_ ** .” She bites down on her lip immediately.

The force of Cassandra’s shame hits her hard, sending her scrambling to her feet but also halting Rapunzel in her steps. Cassandra’s relief at her pause presses insistently at her, and only the rest of her willpower keeps her in place.

“He’s right,” repeats Cassandra. “The closer we are, the more we change. We - I need to put some distance between us.” Her eye twitches and she grits her teeth.

Eugene reads the pain on her face. “Let’s not be too hasty here. We’ve all been doing just fine.” The whiplash from the girls is making his head spin but apparently his priority role right now is to keep them from anything rash in either direction.

“Eugene, we almost bolted. I can’t even tell you where because I have no  _ idea _ .” 

"But you had a destination?"

"Maybe."

"What direction?" He asks, suddenly feeling as if that might be important to the puzzle of figuring out what is up with the girls. 

Cassandra points, swinging her arm in a wide arc. "That way, I guess. I can't tell you how far."

There's a prickle of displeasure that ripples through her bond with Rapunzel but she ignores it, forces the urge to apologize and soothe down. It's important Eugene knows this. Just in case. 

“No,” she repeats. “I need to go.” She takes a few steps further back from the two of them, fingers digging into her other arm. The material of her new suit gives under the pressure and she grabs a handful in her fist. “I’m sorry.” 

Both of them reach out but it’s too late. Eugene curses, feeling that guilt he was so worried about earlier this morning.

“Cass!”

She’s already gone.


End file.
